Washington DC

Review: ‘Heathers’ at Red Branch Theatre Company

High school can be rough on anyone, but in Heathers it’s murder. The well-mounted area premiere at Red Branch Theatre Company shows that the 1989 movie, which poked fun at making the grade in grade...

Review: ‘Anything Goes’ at Other Voices Theatre

Other Voices Theatre’s production of Anything Goes is nothing short of spectacular. Of course, the marriage of the legendary Cole Porter’s music and lyrics, the book by P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton,...

Review: ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ in Concert at The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Strathmore

Lights, music, and… magic! Last night the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra brought Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the first film of the beloved franchise, to the Strathmore stage in this latest...

Review: ‘The Producers’ at Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre

Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre’s production of The Producers is a delightfully hilarious romp, at once a satire on Broadway musicals and a loving tribute to them. With a book by Mel Brooks and Thomas...

Review: ‘The Trump Card’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Mike Daisey knew full well why we came out to see The Trump Card. We were out for “red meat.” We wanted to hear Mike Daisey tear Donald Trump to shreds. We wanted to see Mike kick his ass! And he did....

Review: ‘Twelfth Night’ at Prince George’s Shakespeare in the Parks

In his program notes, Director Christopher Dwyer states there are good reasons why Shakespeare’s play have stood the test of time, and “one is that the stories are so rich and accessible,” and such is...

Review: ‘Oliver!’ at the Sterling Playmakers

The Sterling Playmakers have put their unique twist on the musical Oliver!, based on Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. Oliver! has music, lyrics, and a book by Lionel Bart. Co-Directors Ashley Kinney and...

Review: ‘Kitchen Sink Fest’ at Dance Place

The amount of possibility encapsulated in one minute is a daunting thing to think about, and I pondered such a thing as I waited for the sold out performance of Kitchen Sink Fest to begin on Saturday...

Review: A Fully Staged Reading of ‘My Fair Lady’ at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

It is not easy to reinvent the wheel let alone attempt it, but that is exactly what the ambitious Annapolis Shakespeare Company has done, with generally fine results, in its fully staged reading of...

Meet the Cast of Sterling Playmakers’ ‘OLIVER!’ Part 4: Jacob Miniuk

In Part Four of a series of interviews with the cast of Sterling Playmakers’ OLIVER! meet Jacob Miniuk. Joel: Please tell our readers where they may have seen you appear on our local stages and roles...

Review: ‘A Few Good Men’ at Off the Quill

Fresh off their DCMTA “Best of Capital Fringe 2016” production Timon 2016, Off the Quill (OTQ) brings a faithful adaptation of Aaron Sorkin’s 1992 film to the Greenbelt Arts Center that stands on its...

Review: ‘Spring Awakening’ at Metropolitan Youth Theatre

The inevitability of change defines the human experience. We are all subject to our desires, even when we don’t fully understand them. And curiosity and the intrinsic want and need to feel emotions...

Review: ‘Women Beware Women’ at 4615 Theatre Company

Most of us know how William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet ends. Romeo, thinking his precious Juliet dead, drinks from a vial of poison. When Juliet awakens, she sees Romeo dead and stabs herself....

Co-Founder and the First Artistic Director of Arena Stage Zelda Fichandler Passes Away at Age 91

We received this sad news from Arena Stage. A pillar of our theater community has passed away. We send our condolences to the Arena Stage family and to Zelda’s family. And thank you Zelda for being...

Dangereuse: Globe Theatre’s ‘The Merchant of Venice’ at The Kennedy Center

W.H. Auden once said ,“Shylock is the outsider because he is the only serious person in the play.” Jonathan Pryce’s Shylock is a deeply serious person, and Pryce’s magnificent portrayal of Shylock’s...

Meet the Cast of Sterling Playmakers’ ‘OLIVER!’ Part 3: Ella Levri

In Part Three of a series of interviews with the cast of Sterling Playmakers’ OLIVER! meet Ella Levri. Joel: Please tell our readers where they may have seen you appear on our local stages and roles...

Sarah Doreen MacPhee on Playing Brenda Strong in ‘Catch Me If You Can’ at Montgomery College’s Summer Dinner Theatre

Sarah Doreen MacPhee tells us about playing Brenda Strong, who falls in love with a con artist in Montgomery College Summer Dinner Theatre’s Catch Me If You Can. Joel: Please introduce yourself and...

Review #2: ‘The Merchant of Venice’ at The Kennedy Center

The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. An evil soul producing holy witness Is like a villain with a smiling cheek, A goodly apple rotten at the heart.” – William Shakespeare, The Merchant of...

Review #1: ‘The Merchant of Venice’ at The Kennedy Center

The appropriately psychologically penetrating and vivid production of The Merchant of Venice (now playing at The Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater) embraces all the conundrums of William...

He’s Back: Alex Stone on Playing The Con Man Again-in Montgomery College’s Summer Dinner Theatre’s ‘Catch Me If You Can’

Alex Stone has returned to the stage to play one of his favorite roles: the con man: Frank Abagnale Jr. in Catch Me If You Can at Montgomery College’s Summer Dinner Theatre, which ends its run this...

Review: ‘Blue God’ by Timeless Entertainment at THEARC

Blue God Examines Faith and Trust at DC’s THEARC Last Sunday afternoon, THEARC in DC was a flurry of festivities, including at its center the play, Blue God, by Marshawn Metters. The one performance...

Magic Time! ‘(Re)Acts: #Orlando’ at Forum Theatre

Live theater is not where we turn to learn the news in real time. We have TV and Twitter and plenty other frenzied feeds for that. But live theater may be the most potent and important form we have...

Meet the Cast of Sterling Playmakers’ ‘OLIVER!’ Part 1: Mike Baker

In Part One of a series of interviews with the cast of Sterling Playmakers’ OLIVER!, meet Mike Baker. Joel: Please tell our readers where they may have seen you appear on our local stages and roles...

Meet the Cast of Sterling Playmakers’ ‘OLIVER!’ Part 2: Madeline Curtis

In Part two of a series of interviews with the cast of Sterling Playmakers’ OLIVER! meet Madeline Curtis. Joel: Please tell our readers where they may have seen you appear on our local stages and...

Magic Time! A Report on ‘Double X’ at Schools Without Walls

S. Ann Johnson’s Double X—an exquisitely crafted choreopoem exploring the multicultural distinctions and connections among seven women—had its DC debut Saturday after appearances in Baltimore, New...

‘Review: Love’s Labours Lost’ at 4615 Theatre Company

With the savvy direction of Anne Donnelly and the industrious labors of 4615 Theatre Company, the 400 year-old Shakespearean comedy, Love’s Labours Lost has taken a fruitful leap into the 21st...

Meet the Cast of Metropolitan Youth Theatre’s ‘Spring Awakening’: Part 2: Quentin Araujo

In Part 2 of a series of interviews with the cast of Metropolitan Youth Theatre’s Spring Awakening, meet Quenton Araujo. Sam: Why did you want to appear in Spring Awakening at Metropolitan Youth...

Review: ‘The Dixie Swim Club’ at Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children’s Theater

Written by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten, better known to theater goers as the Jones Hope Wooten comedy team, The Dixie Swim Club at the Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and...

Review: ‘West Side Story’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria

Poverty, street violence, guns, drugs, working-class whites blaming Hispanic immigrants for their financial woes, mistrust of the police—is this an article in last week’s newspaper? It certainly could...

Meet the Cast of Metropolitan Youth Theatre’s ‘Spring Awakening’: Part 1: Erin Claeys

In Part 1 of a series of interviews with the cast of Metropolitan Youth Theatre’s Spring Awakening, meet Erin Claeys. Sam: Why did you want to appear in Spring Awakening at Metropolitan Youth Theatre?...

Review: ‘Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll’ at Colonial Players

The Colonial Players’ production of Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll, written by Eric Bogosian and directed by Paul Valleau, shows off the impressive talents of the actors in this company. A series of 12...

Review: ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ at The Kennedy Center Opera House

In fact, a perfect opera! Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera dazzled the Kennedy Center’s Opera House this Friday, bringing the beloved and longest running Broadway musical to the delight...

Review: ’99 – A Rock Opera’ by DC Dogs

Musical theater and the country could use a good renegade rock musical inspired by the Occupy Movement. The demonstrations that spread across America spurred by Occupy Wall Street shared a kindred...

Review: ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ at Theatre Lab

The story of Jesus Christ and his Apostles is a tale as old as time, all having different meanings to each religion. The story of Jesus Christ and his Apostles is a tale as old as time, all having...

Review: ‘A Tomb With A View’ at Bowie Community Theatre

Bowie Community Theatre’s A Tomb With A View Puts the Fun in Dysfunctional BCT’s latest production, Norman Robbins’ A Tomb With a View, is a comedy thriller about a wealthy, more than a little...

2016 Capital Fringe Review ‘Act Like a Grrrl!’

Act Like a Grrrl! by the Actors Bridge Ensemble opened at the Martin Luther King Library this Thursday. More paratheatre than straight performance, this rendition of Act Like a Grrrl! represents the...

Review: ‘Riches’ at Anacostia Playhouse

Act 3 of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1962) is entitled, “Exorcism” and, indeed, the infamous Martha and George exorcise their demons, as well as the demons of academia everywhere....

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘, she took me back so tenderly’

It’s not often that you attend a funeral for someone you never knew. Yet, for some patrons, that will be their experience of , she took me back so tenderly, from banished? productions. Billed as a...

Spine: ‘We Know How You Die’ and an Oracular Upright Citizens Brigade

We Know How You Die, the Upright Citizens Brigade’s improvised, audience participation exploration of the Oracle, its predictive methodology, and its impact on the American political—STOP! You will...

Review: ‘Mary Poppins’ at Encore Stage & Studio

Encore Stage and Studio presents Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins, with original music and lyrics by Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman and Book by Julian Fellowes, and new songs and...

Review: ‘Urinetown’ at Monumental Theatre Company

Urinetown is not what you would call a “feel good” musical. Monumental Theatre Company has mounted this funny and politically-punching show about a town which, due to a catastrophic water shortage,...

Review: ‘We Know How You Die!’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

I sure laughed a lot at the show I saw the other night at Woolly Mammoth Theatre. Gut-busting funny, it was. And I’d highly recommend you catch it…except it was made up on the spot, never to be seen...

Review: ‘Miss Cuarenta’ Starring Paula Arcila at GALA Hispanic Theatre

GALA Hispanic Theatre—home of the National Center for Latino Performing Arts—kicked off its 41st season this weekend with the DC premiere of Miss Cuarenta. The dazzling solo performance—written and...

Review: The Hypocrites’ Production of ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ at Olney Theatre Center

You can’t go wrong. Just go with a light heart and desire to have fun as you easily unleash your connections to current world realities. What is it? Well, the “what” is a wonderfully brash,...

Review: ‘Yellowman’ at The Anacostia Playhouse

I first saw Dael Orlandersmith’s Yellowman at the Manhattan Theater Club in 2002, with Orlandersmith herself in the role of the dark-skinned Alma and Howard W. Overshown as the light-skinned Eugene....

Review: ‘Grease’ at Wildwood Summer Theatre at The Arts Barn

Wildwood Summer Theatre’s first 2016 summer production of Grease (with book, music and lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey), directed by Jake Young, combines youthful enthusiasm with great...

In the Moment: ‘Kitchen Sink Fest’ at Dance Place: Part 2: 7 Dancers on Their 1 Minute Pieces

Hungry for inventive choreography? Up for a summer’s night adventure with performance that is unconventional and live? Hungry for inventive dance and movement? Desire a way to escape the summer’s heat...

Review: ‘The Marcy and Zina Show’ at Signature Theatre

Amidst the sweltering summer humidity, Signature Theater’s “Sizzlin’ Summer Nights” cabaret series more than lived up to its name with songwriters Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich as they performed...

Magic Time! The Studio Theatre’s ‘Hand to God’: A Puppet Chat

So this strange thing happened. I was sitting at a table in a church basement that happened to be on the fourth floor of The Studio Theatre, and I was waiting to see a show called Hand to God. And...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Adolescence 2.0’

Dixie Lee Mills takes the stage at the extremely tight quarters of upstairs at The Argonaut Tavern on H Street NE. The first words that come out of her mouth: “So I was at my yearly check up….” and...